Video: Human Nature, contemporary art from the collection

On view through July 4th, 2011, our exhibition Human Nature features selections from the permanent collection of contemporary art. In the short video below, Franklin Sirmans talks about various themes of the show, including the use of language, the development of conceptualism, and a growing internationalism in contemporary art. He touches on neon work by Bruce Nauman and Glenn Ligon, body art from the late 1960s and 70s, and new directions in painting, including De Style, by one of my favorites, Kerry James Marshall.

There’s also some great footage of Haegue Yang’s Doubles and Couples, a large scale mixed media installation that uses components of domestic appliances, like a stove and a washing machine, and takes up most of the center of one of the largest galleries.